As part of the Tory offensive against the public sector, the chancellor has announced a 20% reduction in Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices, and more jobcentres to share sites in local authority premises, to deliver 30% savings on estates costs. This fits in with the approaching end of the contract with the company which owns the DWP estate.

The news that two brothers were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court for trafficking vulnerable people to work at Sports Direct in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, will have shocked and angered many, writes Karen Seymour.

Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, reported that it had its best sales growth at the end of last year's quarter for over five years. At the same time, 1,015 Tesco workers will lose their jobs as Tesco announced that it is closing two distribution centres in Hertfordshire and Derbyshire

After gloating about the decline in strikes to record levels in 2015, just months later, the right-wing Tory press is frothing at the mouth as workers take action on the tube, railways and at airports.

Join international day of protest on 20 January: As Donald Trump is sworn in as US President, Socialist Alternative, our US co-thinkers, have put out a call for people to take to the streets in protest against his racist and sexist ideas.

Bolton Socialist Party is backing mounting calls for the leader of the Labour council, Cliff Morris, to resign over the use of emergency powers to hand over £300,000 to an ambulance chasing solicitor, Asons.

Worst decade for living standards since 1920s: Years of pay freezes, rises in living costs and benefit changes mean family incomes are growing more slowly now than during the immediate post-2008 crash.

For real jobs, not 'gig economy': Unemployment levels are at their lowest for eleven years. However, when you scrape below the surface of the headlines, then for ordinary people there is little to celebrate.

Huge changes are afoot in the civil service that will leave jobs slashed and public services a husk of their former selves. Given that 86,000 jobs have already been axed from the civil service over the past five years, this may seem like old news but the scale and scope of the Tories' austerity-driven changes are only now being revealed.